Based on your research and analysis of one professional development (PD) approach, contribute your initial ideas and findings to the chart below by Friday. Be sure to include your name(s) next to your response in parentheses. Note, be sure to add new ideas. In other words, if someone has already contributed an idea similar to yours, be sure to either expand upon that idea with a new thought, or offer a new strategy or idea.
Revisit the chart throughout the remainder of the week, and contribute at least one comment to the two approaches you did not initially select. Please keep comments brief and concise.
In either your initial or subsequent post, contribute at least one resource (e.g. website or article) that supports the approach.
Communities of Practice
E-Learning
Electronic Portfolios
How does the approach support the needs of adult learners?
A community of practice speaks to the inherently social needs of teachers. After all, most people do not become teachers because they are introverts! We like to share and collaborate and work in teams because we learn well this way and have fun doing so. Adult learners are responsible enough to choose their own way to collaborate, whether in person or by using various forms of technology. As adults, we know best how we like to receive professional development and collaborate with others, so this free exchange of ideas within a format we choose values our responsible nature. ~Teresa Diehl
Teresa,
I agree with your comment about how we know how we like to learn. I would only be worried about the lazy teacher who is unmotivated or thinks they know it all. Now, they maybe not should be in the teaching professional at all, but we need be ready for them any way. Would it be possible or worthwhile to have a minimum requirement of hours? -KDavis Comment: I agree with both! Allowing teachers to make decisions follows adult learning best practice- some teachers might be better if a minimum requirement is given and then they could decide on content. Those that are motivated will run with the plan anyway! kkeck
comment: although there are many teachers that did get into education because they are extroverts, we do need to keep in mind that there are some teachers who are shy, love kids, and may not participate well in a CoP environment. We, as a group, need to facilitate in a way that will help draw them out. They may have a wealth of knowledge and have a fear of participating with their peers.
[RM Pellant]
Team C:ISTE (Stephanie S, Beth B, Carissa S, and Judi E) discussed the merits of Communities of Practice via our weekly Skype call. We each then decided to take one question and summarize our discussion concerning that question using AudioPal. The following audio widgets are the result of those summaries!
We look forward to your comments!
Comment (P.Chodkiewicz) I really like this tool.
Communities of Practice do not impose an alien structure, but instead simply acknowledge and support the natural human process of organizing around common goals and working together to share information and solve problems. This behavior brought about the first civilizations, but unfortunately it can be quite uncommon among teachers. (Brady Cline)
Brady,
It is interesting how you mention that this behavior was brought about around the first civilization because the two researcher by the name of Jean Laue and Etienne Wenger started this model. This was around 1980 and early 1990's. I like how Wenger stated about community of practice:
"Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavour: a tribe learning to survive, a band of artists seeking new forms of expression, a group of engineers working on similar problems, a clique of pupils defining their identity in the school, a network of surgeons exploring novel techniques, a gathering of first-time managers helping each other cope. In a nutshell: Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. (Wenger circa 2007)"
Reference:
Jean Lave & Etienne Weger(2009). Communities of practice. Retrieved November 21, 2009 from www.infed.org/biblio/communities_of_practice.htm
(N.Connolly)
Adult learners want to be treated with respect, honoring their expertise and knowledge. The community of practice type of PD occurs in ongoing teams that meet on a regular basis, preferably several times a week, for the purposes of learning, joint lesson planning, and problem solving. These teams, operate with a commitment to the norms of continuous improvement and experimentation and engage their members in improving their daily work to advance the achievement of school district and school goals for student learning.
Members of learning communities take collective responsibility for the learning of all students represented by team members.
This form of PD is appealing to the adult learner because it is fosters people to continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire and nurtures new and expansive patterns of thinking.
Community of practice supports teachers’ pursuit of their own personal and professional career goals. Andrea Christman
Adults have a need to be self-directing. The CoPs fit this perfectly since it is completely self directing. Adults also bring a wealth of knowledge and experience and CoPs with their open ended sharing of experience allows for adults to draw on this. The essence of a CoP is that adults learn from each other by focusing on concrete experience based knowledge. (Allyson Smith) Community of Practices offer support for teachers as they continue their quest for life long learners. Professional Development and Professional Learning Communites brings together shared thoughts and strategies with applied knowledge to increase student learning. (Adrienne Wright)
Communities of practice moves the burden of one and distributes it collectively over the whole. It allows adult learners to gain the necessary support when learning, and the community offers the support to sustain learning efforts. Learning in isolation is a proven way to poorly engage growth. When working in a community, the ideas of others, mixed with one's own, helps move the whole well beyond the point only one could go alone. The collective insight provides rich data points and the result is dynamic growth.- Ben Grey
I personally felt drawn to the transformational learning piece in Glickman in reference to creating a Community of Practice. This theory seems very personal, yet open in a way that helps a teacher to be truly reflective of their practice. It ties the emotional part of why we teach to our practice. This theory was grew from studies of women entering higher education and it clearly shows. (Missy Del Priore) I think that administration and teachers need to be a district's lead learners. If we have high expectations for our students, than we need to have high expectations for ourselves as well. The best schools are those that have the best environment! The best way to improve the environment is through recognizing everyone's contributions and to create a community of practice! Who said, "Communities of practice (CoP) describes a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession. It is through the process of sharing information and experiences with the group that the members learn from each other, and have an opportunity to develop themselves personally and professionally (Lave & Wenger 1991)"
Ok, it really was Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger according to Wikipedia. Isn't Wikipedia a Community of Practice?
(Scott Meech)
For the “Community of Practice” approach, adult learners are able to contribute at their own pace and find time during their own schedules for collaborating. One application that is in the beta stages of development is Google Wave (http://wave.google.com/help/wave/about.html) With this application, professional development will be able to adapt to the needs of each teacher as they share information that they find relevant to the topic in a variety of formats. The requirements for this are an internet connection and computer. Teachers will be able to exchange information in real-time online or over time through a series of conversations. Through these exchanges, they will be able to find solutions or ideas that they may implement in their on classes. One item to note is that they quality of the ideas will depend on the quality of material and idea shared. As for teacher evaluation, feedback through out the project will help each teacher understand how effective their ideas are and adaptation that may be made in order to improve them. -KDavis
Adult learners want to have control over their learning. They don’t want to be limited to what the instructor tells them. They want to be free to research and learn as much as they want and not worry about the confines of a classroom, they want to decide how the material fits into their lives and jobs. E-Learning allows for flexibility to address an adults lifestyle. The ability to attend class without having to be somewhere at a specific time and place allows adults to deal with what life throws at them and still extend their goal of learning. E-Learning Coach
(Anne Truger)
Anne, I agree that adult learners want to have control over their learning. I remember a PPT we read during our Online Orientation course that said this. The only problem is adult teachers of adult learners often want to have control too...sometimes that can cause a problem. Who gives up the control. And, what do you think about using this idea with young leaners...give up some control to them? (Beth Burke - comment - ISTE)
Comment: This is so true - I find one of the best parts of our e-learning experience is the control I have over what and when I learn. Allyson Smith
Provides the opportunity for :
High levels of communication
Active engagement
Shared decision making among class participants
Flexibility in completing tasks (time and method; speed of learning)
Building on life experiences (discussions and message boards ask for reflection and personalization; student makes the materials/assignments relevant)
Students to be autonomous and self-directing
Inclusion (regardless of demographic or experiential background)
Student motivation
C. Etchison
E-learning is the perfect learning approach for promoting active engagement. Many online enviornments make it nearly impossible to pass a class without becoming an active member in the online community by sharing your insights thorugh weekly postings and group collaboration. It's funny but I have actually had students in my school who opted out of taking online course bcause the require so much of the students self motivation. - Lenora Crawford
This approach supports the needs of adult learners by most jobs today require the skills needed to access, organize, and evaluate information using technology(N. Connolly)
E Learning provides the flexibility of being able to experience without being in a classroom. Additionally the flexibility may extend to arranging schedules to complete task deadlines, respond to discussion boards etc. Distance education has become popular among adults with continued education, however it is important that you a person taking an online class is capable of managing their time to meet weekly deadlines.(Adrienne Wright)
I agree, Nancy. Not only does e-learning provide convenience and a wide range of content, but the self-directed approach itself helps develop the learners' organizational and time management skills.
(Teresa)
Comment: I also agree and see great value in e-learning; without it, I wouldn't be continuing my education at all from here in Germany. I would like to submit that we should not presume that it is intrinsically better than what people do face-to-face. For example, the CoP model probably wouldn't work well through E-learning. It might be OK, but I can't imagine it fostering the same level of collaboration, building of trust, and solution-centered relationships that face-to-face interaction would bring. Certainly, observing each other and teaching collaboratively would be much more limited. I'd love to be proved wrong though. (Educational Blogs such as Ben's approximate much but not all of these activities quite well actually.) (Brady Cline)
The e learning approach to professional developement supports today's adult learner by providing essential elements including a self-directed approach that facilitates anywhere and anytime flexible access for teachers. Glickman states that instructional improvement takes place when teachers improve their decision making about students, learning content, and teaching. (pg.50) E learning professional development allows teachers to decide what to focus on and when to schedule.
Although e learning can be an individual activity, it can also be a group activity using a community of learners/learning community approach. Groups of teachers with similar interests and goals could "attend" the same online learning activity and then collaborate on how they might use the information and again how they did use it and the effectiveness. In addition, e learning could be transformational allowing teachers to "transform their take-for-granted frame of reference" (pg 53 Glickman) just by participating in the professional development online. Depending on the selected activity, e learning can also give the participant the ability to collaborate with colleagues outside their normal environment- in another state or in another country allowing for greater perspecitves. Teachers can be active participants in the online learning either through discussion or activities. E learning also addresses the life cycle, transition events and roles of teachers by allowing them to select what is most authentic for their stage of development. Online learning can also save time and money in some situations that will allow teachers more time to focus on classroom instruction and resources.
(Kathy Keck)
Kathy,
I agree that is important that the adult learner have the ability to select what is most benefical for them at thieir current stage. Adult learners look for the relevance in what is being provided. (Charrai Hunter)
E-learning is a cost effective way to have continuous/ongoing professional development that is also convenient for teachers. Teachers can access this on their planning time or after school. There is no need to supply coverage, substitutes, or plan in-service days, so students don't miss out on quality education in the name of teacher improvement. Teachers can learn in small bits on a regular basis allowing for them to go back to their classrooms and use what they learned, then go online and share and learn more. (Annamarie Capaldi)
eLearning provides opportunity for individuals who may not be able to attend workshops or courses due to travel restrictions, financial means, and responsibilities outside of their career. In addition to logisitcal benefits, eLearning provides a meaningful learning experience. Adult learners can determine what is important for their personal or professional growth plan and pursue it at their pace and convenience. eLearning "courses" can be worked on during the school day within a planning period or a group of teachers with similar interests can explore an eLearning opportunity during an inservice day. Overall, eLearning provides a self-directed, flexible learning environment. (CSualp-ISTE)
Adult learners have wives, husbands, children, jobs, soccer practice, girl scouts, and teach confirmation. When we aren't doing all these things, we are grading and planning for upcoming units. E-Learning provides a convenient avenue for accessible professional development. We can access it at 2 am when we have the time and when our circadian clocks are aligned. We can access it in our pajamas with a cup of coffee and don't have to worry about taking a shower and driving across town to sit in a room for four hours. E-Learning also uses the tool we now more often use for research, organization and communication. [RM Pellant] (RM - I believe this is why we are all in the JHU program... :) KDavis) Comment: I couldn't help but commenting on the pjs as it is a common graduation comment at the virtual school that they are the only students that attend school in the pajamas! One of the great advantages- kkeck
The approach of implementing an electronic portfolio supports the needs of adult learners by providing teachers, for example, with multiple opportunities to learn and showcase their development, as well as reflect the goals of their school and district. Working on an electronic portfolio also provides the adult learner with optimal involvement in his/her project and the time to plan and implement various strategies to be later showcased. (Van Robinson)
Van,
There are many benefits to using electronic portfolios. It can be stored easily in the computer. This will take up very little physical space. They can hold a great deal of information. They are fun to view because you can add sound, music, pictures, graphics and even videos. Students will feel a sense of accomplishment by displaying, sharing their portfolio to teachers, parents
and job interviews.(N. Connolly)
An ePortfolio:
creates a 24/7 learning model
is self directed
provides active involvement in authentic learning
is goal oriented
creates opportunity for reflection on practices
~Michelle Krill, Pat Chodkiewicz
A key element mentioned above is "goal oriented." Without a purpose or direction guiding the portfolio it is unlikely that it will be an effective tool. A traditional portfolio measures progress. If used in that same fashion, an ePortfolio can be a powerful tool. Because it is online it creates a favorable storage situation as well as ease of organization. (CSualp- ISTE)
I feel like there are SO many ePortfolio options out there. Has anyone found a tool out there to assess what is the best one for one's particular use? (Beth Burke - Comment - ISTE)
~Michelle Krill @Beth - I think a blog would make a very nice ePortfolio. Projects can be uploaded/embedded and reflections done for each. Also, then comments can be included from others. I recently completed a portfolio and used Google Sites to do it. Not bad, but the reflection piece was done through embedded google spreadsheets. Others in my program used wikispaces for portfolios.
(Comment: C. Etchison) - self-directed activities seem like the way to go when the criteria for acceptace is clearly stated. I like the idea that reflection is an expectation Comment:
We do not yet use the eportfolio in the virtual school.I think it is an excellent idea to allow teachers to track their progress as professionals and also to keep the work that they feel represents their best efforts.This really helps the teacher to place an emphsis on thier professional development. kkeck
As Cindy mentioned, reflection is a critical piece of any kind of portfolio. Otherwise it is just a scrapbook. The portfolio should have a focus like "growth over time" or "demonstration of competency). A concern I have with e-portfolios is the possibility of obsolescence. I have 2 e-portfolio I can no longer access. Cloud computing may address this issue. (Comment by Judith Epcke)
Comment: I'd like to build on what Judith wrote. One of the biggest problems with e-portfolios, other than the technical challenges, is that many teachers and often whole schools do portfolios very, very poorly. Porting bad paper-portfolios into digital isn't a magic solution. Funny enough, I've done some really great portfolios (digital and not), but I can honestly reflect on the fact that at my current school the way they are done is terrible, and predictably, mine probably won't be what they could be. (Brady Cline)
Stupid aside: I asked to do digital and was told no because the school had spent a bunch of money on big document binders for the students to use! (Brady Cline) There are several reasons to create an electronic portfolio. One is that it can supplement your hard copying resume. If done correctly it can demonstrate your intellect, technical skills and visual competence and improve your visibility. An electronic portfolio could only increase the likely hood of being hired for a job or better impressing individuals when showcasing your experiences and skills. (L. Kernizan)
Digital Portfolios are not only good for accompanying resumes, but are also good for sharing with your students and parents because I include copies of successful projects. They become a history book of your career and a resource. They are a tool that can be shared with colleagues and new teachers. I have gone back to mine for use in this program. (Annamarie Capaldi)
E-Portfolios serve as an track for learning. You are able to to keep a record of learning achievement. E- Portfolios can be put together in a presentation on a webpage with software tools. Eportfolios can be used in school for assessment of a student’s learning. (Adrienne Wright)
Showcasing an educator's (or student's) growth via an e-portfolio is a great way to keep numerous artifacts of learning in a single place...all ready for the 21st century! (Missy Del Priore)
How does the approach support differentiated professional development to meet the unique needs of staff in your school?
My school’s newly established Instruction Department is in charge of professional development for our schools’ over one hundred teachers. What they found was that there were many teachers across the country who went way above and beyond the curriculum to meet the needs of students in their own signature ways. As a result, teachers’ excellent self-made materials are now enjoying a new home on SharePoint. They are thrilled to be able to share and be recognized for their contributions with teachers across the country who share their unique online teaching platform. Teachers seeking supportive materials on a particular subject can go into SharePoint to find what they need and contact the creator of the material if they need additional support.
Another way teachers’ individual needs are met is through the use of our TLCs (Teacher Course Liaisons). These liaisons collect questions, comments, and ideas from other teachers across the country who also share their same content area and grade level. These comments are collected through a running Issue Aware ticket that is also viewed by curriculum developers who handle those particular courses. When it is time to revise a course, the teachers’ comments are taken into account. This running track record also helps inform the Instruction Department of what issues need to be addressed through professional development. Teachers feel empowered by this new system, and new leaders are emerging as a result of this opportunity (any teacher can apply to be a TCL, and in the pilot year I think none were denied the opportunity). It is also a democratic approach to giving feedback.
~Teresa Diehl
This audio comment from Team C: Supervisionaries Beth, Judi, Stephanie, and Carissa.) (Comment: C. Etchison)TLC- sounds like a great idea to encourage teacher leaders, continuity, and best practice. Could you please share the URL? Comment: This is wonderful as a way to not only recognize the teacher's work as unique, but also share their materials with those that might need them. The curriculum developers also sounds like a wonderful idea- and they are innovative- something that I feel is really needed. Yes, please share the URL if possible. kkeck
(Comment: P.Chodkiewicz)
I really like this approach, we are going to try something similar to this. We are currently using a model like this to role out our Gradebook training, before parents are able to access student grades.
All too often, expert teachers and new or struggling teachers have little to do with each other, however, anyone who has been a master-teacher for a student-teacher knows that the experience forces one to reflect on one's own practices. Communities of Practice assumes that everyone, at any level of teaching expertise can refine their teaching through the process of authentic collaboration. When teachers are allowed to organically group into learning teams (a bit like our cohort, but less formalized), then everyone is challenged. At our international school, there is a constantly revolving door of teachers, so it is a real challenge to keep everyone up to speed on basic practices (let alone advanced pedagogy). Community is fostered through collaborative grade-level planning which is built into the timetable. This isn't exactly CoP because it consists of involuntary teams rather than dynamic, voluntary groups organized around their own perceived needs. (Brady Cline)
Reflection is important because it allows one’s inner thoughts, feelings and actions to create an atmosphere to think critically about your practices and experience. It allows one to evaluate, analyze, and then inscribe, to strategically develop an understanding of meaning about our practices. (Adrienne Wright) ---- CoPs is an extremely flexible method. They can cover a variety of topics, members can focus on different aspects of topics that they care about or even different topics. One way to use this in my school would be to form several CoPs around a variety of topics. As we are supposed to be a project based school one of the CoPs should focus on project based learning. Another should focus on literacy (another school initiative.) School culture could be a third.( Allyson Smith)
Working in a community inherently differentiates as the ideas and input of a larger group increases the diversity of thought and approach. Adding more voices to a professional development setting brings about more options to consider when trying to improve as a professional. Ideas that wouldn't have been thought of or addressed when working in isolation or in a small group are voiced and the potential for change is developed. Utilizing a community also allows the institution to meet the needs of a broad spectrum of abilities and needs for a variety of teachers. The community joins the often segmented portions of the institution in a way that allows all individuals to learn from each other. -Ben Grey
If you set up a Community of Practice based on the Transformational Learning model, everyone would be able to share their unique perspective of situations that occur throughout their day. This really reaches students and teachers beyond the classroom. The points of view that unfold would be incredible diverse and could drive professional development that changes the culture of a building. (Missy Del Priore)
Comment Pat Moriarty
I love the idea of communities of practice for teachers because it inspires experienced teachers to lead and supports new teachers with a constant stream of information from a variety of sources. Currently, we have a new teacher initiative but this consists mostly of meetings at the SAU where just the new teachers collaborate with one another. I think it would be beneficial for new teachers to meet with others from a variety of levels and content areas to gain insight into the many different strategies that teachers use. Much of what they review at their meetings are based on theory and research, which is certainly a part but it doesn't necessarily help with speaking with a parent or addressing an immediate need within the class. By taking part in the community, the new teachers would have a many people in the building to turn to.
My question after reading several of the posts was I wonder how much time is allocated for these communities of practice and if it is time is a greater factor than in the other models. It seems time intensive.
Community's of Practice are the consummate environment for Differentiation! The key is time. Should teachers be given time or have expectations to learn beyond their traditional duties?
Learning teams may be of various sizes and serve different purposes, thus, it will meet the needs of the spectrum of teaching experience in my school.
My staff is at different levels of technology integration and by allowing them to choose communities of practice that are supportive for their level can be reassuring and allow each learner to feel secure enough to take risks in their learning.
Communities of practice allows for professional development that is job embedded and ongoing. This is appealing to the teachers at my school, because I work at a high functioning school with a rigorous curriculum. The teachers do not like to carve out time in their day to engage in isolated training and when the professional development can be embedded into their practice it is much more valued.
Trying out new practices incrementally, in teams, with coaching and moral support is very pleasing to my staff. We are currently providing Web 2.0 training in this manner and the teachers that are participating in the professional learning communities find security and safety in trying out these new tools with a group of like-minded professionals. Andrea Christman
The staff member can choose:
Content based on stages of concern (C-BAM): awareness, personal, management, consequence, collaboration, and refocusing
Select this delivery method to meet their preferences for time and pace (in-service day 2009-10, or off-contract 2009-2010, or 3-credit course Summer 2010)
Choose to work individually or collaboratively (with only district teachers or teachers-nationwide)
Choose the number of modules to complete and how to demonstrate their learning from the course (proof of learning can be shown either by connection to district curriculum map, district initiatives, individual portfolio or tailored class lessons)
The e-learning can support differentiated professional development to meet the unique needs of staff in schools by using a variety of formats for instructional delivery. Broadbent (2002) mentions “e-learning allows those who need access to information to tap it as needed thought informal means. Websites, discussions groups, and list servs can supply knowledge and skills on an as needed basis. This can benefit those who do not need direct instruction and are self-motivated learners” (p. 1)(N.Connolly)
Providing online professional development (E-Learning) allows a district to offer many different courses at once to meet the needs of it’s learners. Classes are available when they are needed and are no longer based on room reservations or sub availability. Faculty do not have to all attend the same day nor the same course. This allows for flexibility that enables professional development to meet the specific assessed needs of the individual. The teacher that wants basic Boardmaker applications can now take a class at the same time as the teacher who wants advanced applications. It opens up a whole new world. (Anne Truger)
Imagine the possibilities for teachers (and administrators) when we have the ability to diversity our teaching from beyond our own building, district, or county. Talk about a true learning community! (Missy Del Priore)
We, too, have begun to offer some online professional development for our staff and have met with success. We realize this is not the preferred mode of learning for all staff, so we continue to offer face to face courses as well; particularly for beginner level classes. It's another step in our desire to meet the learning needs of our staff. (Comment by Judith Epcke)
Online professional development is a great tool for integration of schoolwide, group and individual professional development because differentiation in the group and individual levels still allows teachers to select from a menu with the district goals in mind. A schoolwide staff could complete a large group district activity either in person or online, a group of teachers could decide to follow up the large group and select an activity related to their specific interests and then an individual could further specialize and select an online event that is specific to their own classroom needs (it might also match developmental or life cycle needs for them)
Of course in the school that I am in (virtual) the online professional development is highly effective due to the teachers residing all over the state. Each time the teachers come to the office for a professional development, it involves a great deal of time and money. It is very beneficial to have the ability to address distict concerns with the entire staff online through Ellluminate. The professional development this month will be online. I think it is important though, that there is follow up with teachers that encourages them to move forward following the large group to work in communities and individually to differentiate based on their own needs.
E learning professional development also supports, through differentiation, the concept of job embedded development due to the teacher's ability to select and differentiate for their own classroom at any time.
(Kathy Keck)
(comment from Steph Spissu) I am continually impressed by eLearning professional development activities and the opportunities they provide. While I was a school teacher I was provided with very few PD opportunities. However, I have worked for two different supplemental education in recent years and found the eLearning provided to be helpful. Additionally, the various modules were comprised of reading, listening, writing, game-related, quiz, and discussion activities. With each activity I completed I gained a better perspective about the important role eLearning could play in adult development.
There is a wealth of information on the internet. There are many professional development tools. E-Learning can connect a teacher with a specific type of professional development that will fit the specific needs of the teacher. All this without leaving their living room. Teachers can also follow their interests. They can support their professional development venture by surfing and researching specific items or that teachable moment. [RM Pellant]
The teachers in district are finding it increasingly difficult to get released from the school day to attend professional development. As a consequence, a shared space online has been created in order to facilitate PLCs virtually. While this may not be for everyone and it cannot totally replace face-to-face collaboration, it is a wonderful way for peers to engage and learn fromone another. With the use of Webinars and Wikis, the wealth of information that can be shared with one another is endless. This new mode of professional development is being accepted with slight trepidation, however, since many people feel that it is "outside of their duty day/contract." I imagine one could spend endless hours outside of the school developing professionally, but I find that a small amount of time is required if it is all going to get done. The webinar will allow some activities to take place during the school day without having to take time to drive anywhere and if it is archived, it can be accessed at other times, too. ~Andrea Christman
Differentiated professional development can be facilitated by implementing electronic portfolios when the sessions are designed to meet teachers “where they are.” Electronic portfolios are not a one size fits all model. It is a medium to display one’s best work, “a-ha” moments, and lessons learned through reflective practice. (Van Robinson) (Comment: C. Etchison- would seem beneficial, prior to beginning these portfolios, to dialogue how to choose examples that reflect the professional goal, and how to show growth over time).
Similar to an analog (binder style) portfolio, an ePortfolio allows each teacher to identify the purpose and select the evidence that matches that purpose. The theme of the portfolio can differ, thereby making it differentiated.
~Michelle Krill, Pat Chodkiewicz
(comment from Steph Spissu) Michelle and Pat. That is a great point that each ePortfolio is a personal experience and therefore can be differentiated for various teacher needs. I think an ePortfolio path for various teachers can be guided by an administrator to go certain ways. These portfolios would be particularly helpful for the teacher who needs improvement in technology integration!
Also, these portfolios can be easily accessed and stored for years to come in order to further the professional development of other teachers who may wish to view them.
(Teresa)
Comment: (from Andrea Christman)--I love the idea of e-portfolios, but a school's administration needs on be on board with the whole idea. Brady also mentioned his frustration with his school and the problem that I see with using e-portfolios is that I don't think my administrator would know how to open it up or use it! She is VERY low tech! You could spend a lot of time scanning evidence into the portfolio only to have it never looked at!
An electronic portfolio allows for learners to showcase what they have done to meet certain standards through a set of guidelines. This gives the opportunity for one to use their own style while meeting standards. Because the response is individual most of the time it is already differentiated within itself. One can use e-portfolios to be geared towards so many different things; it all depends on the school district and what they are trying to accomplish (L. Kernizan)
Comment Pat Moriarty
I think that digital portfolios are an excellent tool for the teacher to organize professional development materials and store artifacts. I really do not see where the digital portfolio would facilitate improved instruction or increase student learning. However, I do believe it is an excellent tool for students to use and develop as they move through their years of schooling. Personally, I think a digital portfolio should replace the grading and report card system because it is performance based and shows what students are able to do by the display of artifacts.. Now,, if by developing their own digital portfolio a teacher learns skills to help students develop their own then this would be an effective professional development activity. But if the teacher is not then I think the development of a digital portfolio would be an exercise that a teacher could pursue outside the classroom or school.
What elements need to be in place so that the professional development is of high quality and effectively improves instruction?
I think that having someone in charge of this somewhat free-flowing approach helps reign in the quality elements and keep participants on track. A collaborative approach such as a “community of practice” allows teachers to seek what they need. This supports the needs of individual teachers who have their own goals that they are evaluated on each year and might not benefit as much from passive professional development that was handed to them.
~Teresa Diehl (Comment: C. Etchison) What would the qualifications be for this "person in charge" and how is "time on task" or final product evaluated?
I think that it is important to develop a community of peers rather than a top-down delivery of "development." This can be done through the use of lead learners or team leaders. These are ideally teachers rather than administrators. Their job is to see themselves as a facilitator rather than a superior.
Our school does not have a vice-principal, and instead uses three [teaching] team leaders to fill this role with a focus on being lead learners. These teams meet regularly as peers. Our last PD day was given over to the teams to do high-level language planning. Instead of bringing in an expensive speaker, the team sat down with the new scope and sequence document and hashed out a UbD based year outline for spelling instruction for grades 3 - 5. What was accomplished was much better than what the curriculum coordinator could have put together and gave the teachers to become much more knowledgeable about the scope and sequence and UbD planning process -- neither of which would have happened if this had been done by the curriculum coordinator or if the PD day had been an workshop leader who was an expert on language instruction. (Brady Cline)
I agree Brady far too often people are given certain positions in a building and they let the role take over which has them performing non productively. I learned from my students that working in groups is so much more productive. You can have a facilitator to guide the group but the outcome for collaboration is so much more meaningful and productive. (L. Kernizan) I think it’s vital to introduce teachers to the concept of CoPs before throwing them into one. Examples of communities of practice even around unrelated issues would be a good place to start. Another important element would be to have teachers brainstorm about specific topics to cover in the CoP. (Allyson Smith) Comment: I think that a team approach is a great way to go- if the teachers are in learning communities and each has a team leader, a pd advisory could be formed of the leaders with a facilitator that is an admin. I think it would be good to have a facilitator as the teachers may not have enough time to do some of thework involved. The facilitatorwould not need to make decisions. This would allow each community to have input in what pd is needed. kkeck To create a PD based on Transformational Learning, there would have to be a willingness for teachers to share their personal experiences that have shaped their classroom practice. Teachers may also need to be involved in a type of diversity training. In additionbe able to work with or as a peer coach would be vital. (Missy Del Priore)
This audio comment from Team C: Supervisionaries Beth, Judi, Stephanie, and Carissa.)
Leaders cannot act in the role of top-down agents of change or be seen as the visionaries of the school; instead leaders must be regarded as democratic teachers and allow for the leadership to be shared and the decisions to be collective and reflect the opinions of all the stakeholders. This will take a paradigm shift in many school administrators!
Communities of practices require that teachers be self-motivated and reflective and be able to guide their own development.
Teachers must be given the tools, encouragement and guidance to allow the communities of practice to thrive. ~Andrea Christman
Administration must validate this model by allotting time to allow teachers to engage in the requisite conversations. Allowing teachers to have critical conversations, as well as creating an environment where people are free and comfortable to risk is imperative. Administration must also work collaboratively within the community and set up the opportunity for the community to establish group learning goals. -Ben Grey
E-Learning programs need to have many of the same things that other professional development should have: needs assessment, course outcomes, assessment of learning, and an evaluation component. In addition to these things because there is not a professor standing in front of the room to ask questions of, you need a special environment. One that has the tools needed to communicate, research and assess with. The design should include not only technology tools but also learning tools. (Anne Truger)
E-Learning needs to:
Be a part of the PD long term plan (visible option on thePD framework)
Be a part of the budget process (short term and long term for both district and building)
Build collaboration among district members (may need to organize registration among staff members to foster this outside of the e-learning program’s structure)
Incorporate follow-up into the e-learning program structure (district provide opportunities to share with non-participants, reflect new strategies in lessons/look-fors, and walk-throughs
Provide the opportunity for administrators to help teachers to connect what they learned to student learning and school improvement teams.
Provide administrators the opportunity to expect teachers to evaluate what they have learned and what students have learned, as a result of the e-learning experience
Provide administrators the opportunity to expect teachers to share technology strategies with administrators and suggest ways in which new technologies can be implemented within the district
Provide participants with opportunity to reflect on their learning and “turn around and teach” a colleague the information
C. Etchison
Comment: The two things you mentioned that stand out for me (though all of your points are good!) are the importance of including e-learning in the budget and having teachers teach others - this helps teachers be more self-reflective about their learning as it forces them to think about how others can use the information. Allyson Smith The elements that need to be in place so that the professional development is of high quality and effectively improves instruction are:
Fosters a deepening of subject matter knowledge, a greater understanding of learning, and a greater appreciation of student’s need.
~The questions, analysis and reflections are key components in eLearning. Also, an active faciliator is very important. Although, it is necessary to be self motivated for eLearning to be successful, with the right faciliator, clear expectations, guidelines and deadlines can help even the less motivated be successful. ~Michelle Krill
E learning professional development, like any professional development program, needs to involve the participants in the planning. There should be an integration of schoolwide, group and individual planning and it should include research-based practices. The professional development should be job embedded and teachers should have the ability to differentiate individually and be active participants on all levels. There should be an opportunity for collaboration. E learning professional development should also include follow up, evaluation and support from peers and administration. Especially, in the case of e learning, it needs to be ongoing and part of the school technology culture. I will list the specifics below, however, I would like to mention Standards for Online Professional Development, developed by SREP in collaboration with NSDC)
(Kathy Keck)
Comment: Kathy, your comments say it best. Educators need to be involved from the ground up in order to provide professional development that is effective and offers appopriate practices. E-Learning is an apporpriate method to integrate both techonology use and focus the program to the needs of the educator. It also provides for collaboration among a varied group. mmcfarland
Support and Structure are even more important in many E-learning environments. If you are involved in an a-synchronous environment it needs to be well structured so that it is clear to the learner what the goals are and the path to achieving those goals. If the course is delivered through the internet, the internet can be a black-hole to time. If the course is well structured you can diminish the possibility of wasted time. E-Learning professional development also needs to be supported and planned through the school/district. If left up to the learner, they might choose material that is too easy, or that isn't necessarily supporting the school/district goals. Many professional development opportunities are also more valid than others. A technology coordinator or director who is in the "know" can help direct the learner, administrator, or, professional development coordinator in the right direction. [RMPellant]
To effectively utilize electronic portfolios to affect teaching and instruction, some professional development is suggested. It is recommended to: provide time, assess levels of technology use & integration, consider who will participate (focused group or full site), create an action plan, assess competencies, provide differentiated PD as well as information and resources in varied formats and mediums. (Van Robinson)
Professional development about use of portfolios to improve instruction
Short, introductory videos/samples (allows the participant to re-run and refresh skills if needed)
A framework for building the portfolio
Guidelines for what to include/not include
Guidelines for the reflective portion
A rubric for self assessing quality
~Michelle Krill, Pat Chodkiewicz
(Comment: C. Etchison - guidelines would make the difference, I believe, between "just collecting work" and "collecting with the purpose of promoting teacher growth") ~@Cindy, I agree! Michelle Krill
A e-portfolio is so broad and there are so many things you can do with it but if you don’t know what you are doing it can be a big headache. For an electronic portfolio to be high quality and effectively improve instruction there need to be professional development plans to aid in the process of creating an electronic portfolio. Staff members need to have access to tutorial, samples, internet access, a rubric, action plan and have someone who can give them feedback on what they are uploading. (L. Kernizan)
Professional development to support the use of e-portfolios is obvious as it could be an effective tool used to monitor the progress of your teaching and professional career. Using it as a tool to assess instruction would benefit not only the teacher but the student in terms of feasability and effectiveness of a lesson or unit as you reflect back on your experiences. The e-portfolio is useful for a teacher to accompany a resume, or during an observation to showcase projects, and personal efforts. The only down side would be the creation of the portfolio as it is a skill that would need to be introduced and revisited regularly. (mmcfarland)
comment: we also need to keep in mind that teachers will also need professional development to professionally develop! ;-) In other words, they may need PD to learn all there is about the e-portfolio to make it an affective tool for them. [RM Pellant] - So true!
How does the approach support teacher evaluation?
Audio by Team C - ISTE- Beth Burke, Carissa Sualp, Judith Epcke, and Stephanie Spissu
(see response to prior question) ~Teresa Diehl
Ideally, communities of practice will be designed with both team teaching and peer observations in mind. It is important that this be a regular part of collaboration. Teachers who are constantly in each others' classrooms learn to critically analyze teaching practices. They then become much more reflective about their own practices. Teaching with adult observers can be stressful, but when it occurs frequently with trusted peers who are familiar with your skills and goals, it can provide the subtle pressure to implement best practices which are already known but not consistency implemented. Through these teams of teacher-learners evaluation instruments can be created and used on each other. All of this requires a lot of personal trust and good faith -- these cannot be assumed, and is, in my opinion, a huge obstacle to this idealistic model of teacher evaluation. In a true CoP membership/participation would be voluntary. This mostly solves the problem of trust and good faith, but doesn't compel struggling teachers (or expert loners) to join with others. I think CoP is the way to go, but I'd like to learn more about how it really looks in schools and if teacher evaluation is integrated into it or is a separate process. (Brady Cline)
The evaluation of a Community of Practice would have to be a positive )experience for everyone involved. Taking teachers from where they are and moving them to where they want to be is extremely rewarding for teachers and the peers who helped them. Knowing how to incorporate a non-evaluative walkthrough would play a big part of creating a CoP. (Missy Del Priore)
Comment: Teachers in communities are learning from their peers. As teachers identify areas that they would like to improve from walk thoughs and clinical observations they can begin to focus in the learning community and may enlist the ideas and support of their peers that may even lead to a peer coaching process. Other teachers may have participated in a pd program that could be helpful to others and be able to share that information.kkeck
Communities of practice help move away from a managerial approach to teacher supervision to a team approach for improvement. This method allows teachers to work together to peer-edit, and it allows conversations to be based within the community to help all members grow professionally. No longer is the principal the only one evaluating and pushing teachers to get better. The responsibility is shared with the entire group, and investment in success becomes equally owned by all. -Ben Grey
~Andrea Christman: Teacher members of learning teams can assist one another in examining the standards students are required to master, planning more effective lessons, critiquing student work, and solving the common problems of teaching; thus improving the quality of performance of the teacher.
Staff development that improves the learning of all students by organizing adults into learning communities has goals that are aligned with those of the school and district. This improves the likelihood that the teachers will successfully achieve the school and district goals.
Communities of practice support and encourage continuous learning of its professionals.
E-Learning supports administrative evaluation in many ways. There are many tools which an administrator can access to allow them to see what classes individuals have taken and how they have performed. All staff can be required to participate based on the flexible scheduling. The resulting data can be used as part of the evaluation process. Having all staff take the same class removes the aspect of “my class didn’t do that” or “my instructor allows let us go 30 min early” and many other “unfair” things that staff complain about when there is more than one instructor that offers the same class. If everyone is taking the same class then it makes it possible to expect the same results when staff are integrating a new skill into their instruction. (Anne Truger)
Knowledge, lessons or activities that resulted from the e-Learning experience can be: * Observed in walk throughs
Discussed during peer coaching, mentoring, or team/grade level meetings
Shared with administrative teams to determine if the new strategies can be incorporated across a grades/departments
Used as model lessons, with the teacher in a teacher-leader role for new teachers
Used to help evaluate content being taught and support curriculum alignment
Incorporated into the teacher’s action research or professional development plan
Used to intellectually involve the teacher (acquire knowledge at a deeper level)
Transferred to the students because digital tools that teachers use in the e-learning environment can be used with students – providing 21st century skills
C. Etchison
E-learning approach support teacher evaluation by: motivation, inclusion, differentiation, spatial thinking, organization and collaboration learning.(N.Connolly)
Teacher evaluation, which includes both formative like walkthroughs and the full clinical cycle and summative such as the formal yearly teacher evaluation, is supported by e learning and online professional developement by helping teachers to
address specific areas of need that are part of their individual action plan and goals. Online tools can address those needs and teachers can then apply the ideas to their owon classroom practice. So the online tools facilitate different needs mentioned in both summative and formative evaluation. Trying to accommodate all teachers needs in either large or small groups is one of the pitfalls of professional development that can lead to frustration. Fortunately, there are a wide range of online topics to facilitate the needs of teachers. For example, NACOL is on resource that teachers can use for professional development in the area of online learning and ISTE offers a wide range of activities involving technology. Other organizations like ASCD also offer online classes that address many teacher needs. (Kathy Keck)
The individual E-Learning Professional Development needs to be tied into the teacher observation cycle. Teacher is observed and then a plan is developed for the teacher to fill a gap or work on a problem area via an E-learning tool. Administrator needs to then follow up and ensure that the delopment plan was followed and needs to check that it was effective and has assisted the teacher's performance in the classroom. Was the gap filled? If not, why? What needs to be accomplished to ensure that the gap is filled? Was the e-learning tool an inappropriate choice? Will a different tool assist the teacher better? [RM Pellant]
Electronic portfolios can support teacher evaluation as a reflective tool to not only show a teacher’s best work but also reflect the growth of the teacher’s practices. The portfolio should be a living document. The teacher’s practices should not only be displayed within the portfolio but also with the classroom through everyday teaching and learning. (Van Robinson)
Teachers create the portfolio with an individual goal that is in line with district goals and vision.
Creates an instrument to measure different learning styles.
Shows growth over time.
Artifacts show evidence of student learning.
~Michelle Krill, Pat Chodkiewicz
As you mentioned previously, it really allows the teacher to be reflective. By having examples of the work it allows the teacher to visually see the growth that has been made. Sometimes educators are doing more than they know and I think this is an excellent tol to allow them to see how the growth has occured. (Charrai Hunter) Electronic portfolios can improve one’s professional practice giving one the opportunity to reflect on their practice and give concrete examples of your work. From a professional level, electronic portfolios can demonstrate your knowledge of resources available for general and field specific research by linking portfolio to appropriate to source materials. From personal experience I have found that my administrators love have me present them with an electronic portfolio because it’s easier to give feedback and they can link a lot of the things in my portfolio to things they have observed in my classroom. (L. Kernizan)
I would think that an electronic portfolio would be a great way to evalute teachers. First, they are compiled of teacher's putting their best products, strategies and practices on display. This allows the teacher to have a say.decision on how they are viewed, as opposed to random observations. They also afford the teacher a tangible mirror for which to look at and improve upon. Many times we know what would like to change, but forget where to begin due to all of the stresses of everyday life and business of our schedules. A portfolio can actually give someone a starting point from which to reflect and then determine where to go from there. (Lenora Crawford)
Contribute at least one resource (e.g., Web site or article) that supports the approach. The resource might provide more general information about the approach or present specific research-based findings on a particular aspect of the approach.
In an article from Educational Administration Quarterly (2008), Susan M. Printy explores how educational leaders can influence the formation of productive communities of practice and affect teachers' professional beliefs and instructional skills. Please visit: http://eaq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/44/2/187 to view information on this study.
Educational Administration Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 2, 187-226 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0013161X07312958
-Teresa Diehl
Articles from Team C- ISTE (Stephanie, Carissa,Beth, Judi) :
Etiene Wenger is known for his work in Communities of Practice and there are many articles and published works available on his page for downloading.We picked the one most closely related to education.
Book: Speck, M., & Knipe, C. (2005). Why can’t we get it right? Designing high-quality professional development for standards-based schools (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Corwin.
Book: Hall, P., & Simeral, A. (2008). Building teachers’ capacity for success: A collaborative approach for coaches and school leaders. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Here is the resource:
Broadbent, B. (2002). ABCs of E-Learning: Reaping the benefits and avoiding the Pitfalls. Washington D.C.: Pfeiffer. Retrieved November 16, 2009, from Http://www.trenton.k12.nj.us/columbus/library/e-learning.htm (N.Connolly)
The resource that I mentioned above, Standards for Online Professional Development, developed by the Southern Regional Education Board in collaboration with the National Staff Developement Council is an excellent resource for planning e learning professional development. www.sreb.org/programs the document is in pdf format and can be downloaded.
A second resource that is likely highly used that has been especially helpful in the virtual environment as reported by teachers is Classroom 2.0. It is a great resource because if the teacher joins, there is weekly professional development delivered online related to technology and the teacher receives ongoing, weekly emails about what is available- it is free and allows for collaboration with other teachers on the topic. (Kathy Keck)
The US Department of Education has their Teacher to Teacher website which provides a wealth of information and opportunities for professional development. It is built by teacher for teachers and can be another tool in the e-learning professional development tool box. [RM Pellant]Teacher to Teacher website which provides a wealth of information and opportunities for professional development. It is built by teacher for teachers and can be another tool in the e-learning professional development tool box. [RM Pellant]
How does the approach support the needs of adult learners?
Annamarie:
The community of practice is not an approach, but a philosophy of leadership to create a collaborative family of workers. Community of Practice approach is not only an avenue for professional development, but addresses the whole work environment and offers support and nurturing along with sharing of ideas. It deals with all facets of the environment including duties, emotionality, relationships, and development. The community becomes a safe environment to share and learn without fear of making mistakes.
How does the approach support differentiated professional development to meet the unique needs of staff in your school?
Michelle:
Employing a community of practice supports professional development for a variety of disciplines within any district. As an urban, suburban or rural district, we face numerous problems that other districts do not. Often there are budget shortages, difficulty with employing highly qualified teachers, retaining highly qualified teachers, language barriers and access to up to date technology, texts, and materials. A community of practice supports differentiated professional development in that it would allow teachers to reach out beyond the school walls to collaborate with other professionals in their content area. This would allow for the establishment of professional learning communities in areas that are especially overlooked or lack a department or group to collaborate with from within their own building. For example, groups that would really benefit from collaboration with teachers from various communities would be English Language Learner teachers, character education teachers, and specials teachers (art, music, technology). All of this could be done using various medium which would accommodate the schedules and needs of many who wish to use professional development to improve their skills and ultimately their student’s skills.
What elements need to be in place so that the professional development is of high quality and effectively improves instruction?
Charrai:While many factors play a part in the effectiveness of the professional development, the following are deemed most essential:Organization of time, ensuring that there is a set structure for sharing ideas, reflection, and a data base of meaningful resources, and that there is a shared purpose and theme.
~ I'd agree that the organization of time is very important. Many meetings are simply times when people synchronize calendars and the conversations are very on the surface. Having time blocked for the discussions and a framework for activities will allow for more meaningful reflections on the task at hand. The objective should be clear at the start and the goal should be to work toward the objective in the allotted time. ~Michelle Krill
How does the approach support teacher evaluation?
Lenora: This approach allows teachers to collaborate and work together towards common goals and solving pertinent and relevant issues related to the school community. As a result, teachers will evaluate one another through discussion and sharing. The goal of a community of practice is to improve current methods through research, collaboration and practice. In order to improve a school, teacher's current practices must be examined and evaluated for their effectiveness. When strategies and approaches are deemed (or evaluated as being) antiquated or negatively influential, a new practice must be agreed upon, tried and assessed for its effectiveness. Teacher evaluation can also occur through the practice of mentoring and collaborating in professional learning communities (both examples of communities of practice). In essence, in communities of practice educators evaluate themselves and the methods by which they do it.
Table of Contents
Based on your research and analysis of one professional development (PD) approach, contribute your initial ideas and findings to the chart below by Friday. Be sure to include your name(s) next to your response in parentheses. Note, be sure to add new ideas. In other words, if someone has already contributed an idea similar to yours, be sure to either expand upon that idea with a new thought, or offer a new strategy or idea.
Revisit the chart throughout the remainder of the week, and contribute at least one comment to the two approaches you did not initially select. Please keep comments brief and concise.
In either your initial or subsequent post, contribute at least one resource (e.g. website or article) that supports the approach.
How does the approach support the needs of adult learners?
~Teresa Diehl
Teresa,
I agree with your comment about how we know how we like to learn. I would only be worried about the lazy teacher who is unmotivated or thinks they know it all. Now, they maybe not should be in the teaching professional at all, but we need be ready for them any way. Would it be possible or worthwhile to have a minimum requirement of hours? -KDavis
Comment: I agree with both! Allowing teachers to make decisions follows adult learning best practice- some teachers might be better if a minimum requirement is given and then they could decide on content. Those that are motivated will run with the plan anyway! kkeck
comment: although there are many teachers that did get into education because they are extroverts, we do need to keep in mind that there are some teachers who are shy, love kids, and may not participate well in a CoP environment. We, as a group, need to facilitate in a way that will help draw them out. They may have a wealth of knowledge and have a fear of participating with their peers.
[RM Pellant]
Team C:ISTE (Stephanie S, Beth B, Carissa S, and Judi E) discussed the merits of Communities of Practice via our weekly Skype call. We each then decided to take one question and summarize our discussion concerning that question using AudioPal. The following audio widgets are the result of those summaries!
We look forward to your comments!
Comment (P.Chodkiewicz) I really like this tool.
Communities of Practice do not impose an alien structure, but instead simply acknowledge and support the natural human process of organizing around common goals and working together to share information and solve problems. This behavior brought about the first civilizations, but unfortunately it can be quite uncommon among teachers. (Brady Cline)
Brady,
It is interesting how you mention that this behavior was brought about around the first civilization because the two researcher by the name of Jean Laue and Etienne Wenger started this model. This was around 1980 and early 1990's. I like how Wenger stated about community of practice:
"Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavour: a tribe learning to survive, a band of artists seeking new forms of expression, a group of engineers working on similar problems, a clique of pupils defining their identity in the school, a network of surgeons exploring novel techniques, a gathering of first-time managers helping each other cope. In a nutshell: Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. (Wenger circa 2007)"
Reference:
Jean Lave & Etienne Weger(2009). Communities of practice. Retrieved November 21, 2009 from www.infed.org/biblio/communities_of_practice.htm
(N.Connolly)
Adult learners want to be treated with respect, honoring their expertise and knowledge. The community of practice type of PD occurs in ongoing teams that meet on a regular basis, preferably several times a week, for the purposes of learning, joint lesson planning, and problem solving. These teams, operate with a commitment to the norms of continuous improvement and experimentation and engage their members in improving their daily work to advance the achievement of school district and school goals for student learning.
Adults have a need to be self-directing. The CoPs fit this perfectly since it is completely self directing. Adults also bring a wealth of knowledge and experience and CoPs with their open ended sharing of experience allows for adults to draw on this. The essence of a CoP is that adults learn from each other by focusing on concrete experience based knowledge. (Allyson Smith)
Community of Practices offer support for teachers as they continue their quest for life long learners. Professional Development and Professional Learning Communites brings together shared thoughts and strategies with applied knowledge to increase student learning. (Adrienne Wright)
Communities of practice moves the burden of one and distributes it collectively over the whole. It allows adult learners to gain the necessary support when learning, and the community offers the support to sustain learning efforts. Learning in isolation is a proven way to poorly engage growth. When working in a community, the ideas of others, mixed with one's own, helps move the whole well beyond the point only one could go alone. The collective insight provides rich data points and the result is dynamic growth.- Ben Grey
I personally felt drawn to the transformational learning piece in Glickman in reference to creating a Community of Practice. This theory seems very personal, yet open in a way that helps a teacher to be truly reflective of their practice. It ties the emotional part of why we teach to our practice. This theory was grew from studies of women entering higher education and it clearly shows. (Missy Del Priore)
I think that administration and teachers need to be a district's lead learners. If we have high expectations for our students, than we need to have high expectations for ourselves as well. The best schools are those that have the best environment! The best way to improve the environment is through recognizing everyone's contributions and to create a community of practice! Who said, "Communities of practice (CoP) describes a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession. It is through the process of sharing information and experiences with the group that the members learn from each other, and have an opportunity to develop themselves personally and professionally (Lave & Wenger 1991)"
- Answer: Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_practice
Ok, it really was Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger according to Wikipedia. Isn't Wikipedia a Community of Practice?
(Scott Meech)
For the “Community of Practice” approach, adult learners are able to contribute at their own pace and find time during their own schedules for collaborating. One application that is in the beta stages of development is Google Wave (http://wave.google.com/help/wave/about.html) With this application, professional development will be able to adapt to the needs of each teacher as they share information that they find relevant to the topic in a variety of formats. The requirements for this are an internet connection and computer. Teachers will be able to exchange information in real-time online or over time through a series of conversations. Through these exchanges, they will be able to find solutions or ideas that they may implement in their on classes. One item to note is that they quality of the ideas will depend on the quality of material and idea shared. As for teacher evaluation, feedback through out the project will help each teacher understand how effective their ideas are and adaptation that may be made in order to improve them. -KDavis
(Anne Truger)
Anne, I agree that adult learners want to have control over their learning. I remember a PPT we read during our Online Orientation course that said this. The only problem is adult teachers of adult learners often want to have control too...sometimes that can cause a problem. Who gives up the control. And, what do you think about using this idea with young leaners...give up some control to them? (Beth Burke - comment - ISTE)
Comment: This is so true - I find one of the best parts of our e-learning experience is the control I have over what and when I learn. Allyson Smith
C. Etchison
E-learning is the perfect learning approach for promoting active engagement. Many online enviornments make it nearly impossible to pass a class without becoming an active member in the online community by sharing your insights thorugh weekly postings and group collaboration. It's funny but I have actually had students in my school who opted out of taking online course bcause the require so much of the students self motivation. - Lenora Crawford
This approach supports the needs of adult learners by most jobs today require the skills needed to access, organize, and evaluate information using technology(N. Connolly)
E Learning provides the flexibility of being able to experience without being in a classroom. Additionally the flexibility may extend to arranging schedules to complete task deadlines, respond to discussion boards etc. Distance education has become popular among adults with continued education, however it is important that you a person taking an online class is capable of managing their time to meet weekly deadlines.(Adrienne Wright)
I agree, Nancy. Not only does e-learning provide convenience and a wide range of content, but the self-directed approach itself helps develop the learners' organizational and time management skills.
(Teresa)
Comment: I also agree and see great value in e-learning; without it, I wouldn't be continuing my education at all from here in Germany. I would like to submit that we should not presume that it is intrinsically better than what people do face-to-face. For example, the CoP model probably wouldn't work well through E-learning. It might be OK, but I can't imagine it fostering the same level of collaboration, building of trust, and solution-centered relationships that face-to-face interaction would bring. Certainly, observing each other and teaching collaboratively would be much more limited. I'd love to be proved wrong though. (Educational Blogs such as Ben's approximate much but not all of these activities quite well actually.) (Brady Cline)
The e learning approach to professional developement supports today's adult learner by providing essential elements including a self-directed approach that facilitates anywhere and anytime flexible access for teachers. Glickman states that instructional improvement takes place when teachers improve their decision making about students, learning content, and teaching. (pg.50) E learning professional development allows teachers to decide what to focus on and when to schedule.
Although e learning can be an individual activity, it can also be a group activity using a community of learners/learning community approach. Groups of teachers with similar interests and goals could "attend" the same online learning activity and then collaborate on how they might use the information and again how they did use it and the effectiveness. In addition, e learning could be transformational allowing teachers to "transform their take-for-granted frame of reference" (pg 53 Glickman) just by participating in the professional development online. Depending on the selected activity, e learning can also give the participant the ability to collaborate with colleagues outside their normal environment- in another state or in another country allowing for greater perspecitves. Teachers can be active participants in the online learning either through discussion or activities. E learning also addresses the life cycle, transition events and roles of teachers by allowing them to select what is most authentic for their stage of development.
Online learning can also save time and money in some situations that will allow teachers more time to focus on classroom instruction and resources.
(Kathy Keck)
Kathy,
I agree that is important that the adult learner have the ability to select what is most benefical for them at thieir current stage. Adult learners look for the relevance in what is being provided. (Charrai Hunter)
E-learning is a cost effective way to have continuous/ongoing professional development that is also convenient for teachers. Teachers can access this on their planning time or after school. There is no need to supply coverage, substitutes, or plan in-service days, so students don't miss out on quality education in the name of teacher improvement. Teachers can learn in small bits on a regular basis allowing for them to go back to their classrooms and use what they learned, then go online and share and learn more. (Annamarie Capaldi)
eLearning provides opportunity for individuals who may not be able to attend workshops or courses due to travel restrictions, financial means, and responsibilities outside of their career. In addition to logisitcal benefits, eLearning provides a meaningful learning experience. Adult learners can determine what is important for their personal or professional growth plan and pursue it at their pace and convenience. eLearning "courses" can be worked on during the school day within a planning period or a group of teachers with similar interests can explore an eLearning opportunity during an inservice day. Overall, eLearning provides a self-directed, flexible learning environment. (CSualp-ISTE)
Adult learners have wives, husbands, children, jobs, soccer practice, girl scouts, and teach confirmation. When we aren't doing all these things, we are grading and planning for upcoming units. E-Learning provides a convenient avenue for accessible professional development. We can access it at 2 am when we have the time and when our circadian clocks are aligned. We can access it in our pajamas with a cup of coffee and don't have to worry about taking a shower and driving across town to sit in a room for four hours. E-Learning also uses the tool we now more often use for research, organization and communication. [RM Pellant] (RM - I believe this is why we are all in the JHU program... :) KDavis)
Comment:
I couldn't help but commenting on the pjs as it is a common graduation comment at the virtual school that they are the only students that attend school in the pajamas! One of the great advantages- kkeck
Van,
There are many benefits to using electronic portfolios. It can be stored easily in the computer. This will take up very little physical space. They can hold a great deal of information. They are fun to view because you can add sound, music, pictures, graphics and even videos. Students will feel a sense of accomplishment by displaying, sharing their portfolio to teachers, parents
and job interviews.(N. Connolly)
An ePortfolio:
- creates a 24/7 learning model
- is self directed
- provides active involvement in authentic learning
- is goal oriented
- creates opportunity for reflection on practices
~Michelle Krill, Pat ChodkiewiczA key element mentioned above is "goal oriented." Without a purpose or direction guiding the portfolio it is unlikely that it will be an effective tool. A traditional portfolio measures progress. If used in that same fashion, an ePortfolio can be a powerful tool. Because it is online it creates a favorable storage situation as well as ease of organization. (CSualp- ISTE)
I feel like there are SO many ePortfolio options out there. Has anyone found a tool out there to assess what is the best one for one's particular use? (Beth Burke - Comment - ISTE)
~Michelle Krill @Beth - I think a blog would make a very nice ePortfolio. Projects can be uploaded/embedded and reflections done for each. Also, then comments can be included from others. I recently completed a portfolio and used Google Sites to do it. Not bad, but the reflection piece was done through embedded google spreadsheets. Others in my program used wikispaces for portfolios.
(Comment: C. Etchison) - self-directed activities seem like the way to go when the criteria for acceptace is clearly stated. I like the idea that reflection is an expectation
Comment:
We do not yet use the eportfolio in the virtual school. I think it is an excellent idea to allow teachers to track their progress as professionals and also to keep the work that they feel represents their best efforts.This really
helps the teacher to place an emphsis on thier professional development. kkeck
As Cindy mentioned, reflection is a critical piece of any kind of portfolio. Otherwise it is just a scrapbook. The portfolio should have a focus like "growth over time" or "demonstration of competency). A concern I have with e-portfolios is the possibility of obsolescence. I have 2 e-portfolio I can no longer access. Cloud computing may address this issue. (Comment by Judith Epcke)
Comment: I'd like to build on what Judith wrote. One of the biggest problems with e-portfolios, other than the technical challenges, is that many teachers and often whole schools do portfolios very, very poorly. Porting bad paper-portfolios into digital isn't a magic solution. Funny enough, I've done some really great portfolios (digital and not), but I can honestly reflect on the fact that at my current school the way they are done is terrible, and predictably, mine probably won't be what they could be. (Brady Cline)
Stupid aside: I asked to do digital and was told no because the school had spent a bunch of money on big document binders for the students to use! (Brady Cline)
There are several reasons to create an electronic portfolio. One is that it can supplement your hard copying resume. If done correctly it can demonstrate your intellect, technical skills and visual competence and improve your visibility. An electronic portfolio could only increase the likely hood of being hired for a job or better impressing individuals when showcasing your experiences and skills. (L. Kernizan)
Digital Portfolios are not only good for accompanying resumes, but are also good for sharing with your students and parents because I include copies of successful projects. They become a history book of your career and a resource. They are a tool that can be shared with colleagues and new teachers. I have gone back to mine for use in this program. (Annamarie Capaldi)
E-Portfolios serve as an track for learning. You are able to to keep a record of learning achievement. E- Portfolios can be put together in a presentation on a webpage with software tools. Eportfolios can be used in school for assessment of a student’s learning. (Adrienne Wright)
Showcasing an educator's (or student's) growth via an e-portfolio is a great way to keep numerous artifacts of learning in a single place...all ready for the 21st century! (Missy Del Priore)
How does the approach support differentiated professional development to meet the unique needs of staff in your school?
Another way teachers’ individual needs are met is through the use of our TLCs (Teacher Course Liaisons). These liaisons collect questions, comments, and ideas from other teachers across the country who also share their same content area and grade level. These comments are collected through a running Issue Aware ticket that is also viewed by curriculum developers who handle those particular courses. When it is time to revise a course, the teachers’ comments are taken into account. This running track record also helps inform the Instruction Department of what issues need to be addressed through professional development. Teachers feel empowered by this new system, and new leaders are emerging as a result of this opportunity (any teacher can apply to be a TCL, and in the pilot year I think none were denied the opportunity). It is also a democratic approach to giving feedback.
~Teresa Diehl
This audio comment from Team C: Supervisionaries Beth, Judi, Stephanie, and Carissa.)
(Comment: C. Etchison)TLC- sounds like a great idea to encourage teacher leaders, continuity, and best practice. Could you please share the URL?
Comment: This is wonderful as a way to not only recognize the teacher's work as unique, but also share their materials with those that might need them. The curriculum developers also sounds like a wonderful idea- and they are innovative- something that I feel is really needed. Yes, please share the URL if possible. kkeck
(Comment: P.Chodkiewicz)
I really like this approach, we are going to try something similar to this. We are currently using a model like this to role out our Gradebook training, before parents are able to access student grades.
All too often, expert teachers and new or struggling teachers have little to do with each other, however, anyone who has been a master-teacher for a student-teacher knows that the experience forces one to reflect on one's own practices. Communities of Practice assumes that everyone, at any level of teaching expertise can refine their teaching through the process of authentic collaboration. When teachers are allowed to organically group into learning teams (a bit like our cohort, but less formalized), then everyone is challenged. At our international school, there is a constantly revolving door of teachers, so it is a real challenge to keep everyone up to speed on basic practices (let alone advanced pedagogy). Community is fostered through collaborative grade-level planning which is built into the timetable. This isn't exactly CoP because it consists of involuntary teams rather than dynamic, voluntary groups organized around their own perceived needs. (Brady Cline)
Reflection is important because it allows one’s inner thoughts, feelings and actions to create an atmosphere to think critically about your practices and experience. It allows one to evaluate, analyze, and then inscribe, to strategically develop an understanding of meaning about our practices. (Adrienne Wright)
----
CoPs is an extremely flexible method. They can cover a variety of topics, members can focus on different aspects of topics that they care about or even different topics. One way to use this in my school would be to form several CoPs around a variety of topics. As we are supposed to be a project based school one of the CoPs should focus on project based learning. Another should focus on literacy (another school initiative.) School culture could be a third.( Allyson Smith)
Working in a community inherently differentiates as the ideas and input of a larger group increases the diversity of thought and approach. Adding more voices to a professional development setting brings about more options to consider when trying to improve as a professional. Ideas that wouldn't have been thought of or addressed when working in isolation or in a small group are voiced and the potential for change is developed. Utilizing a community also allows the institution to meet the needs of a broad spectrum of abilities and needs for a variety of teachers. The community joins the often segmented portions of the institution in a way that allows all individuals to learn from each other. -Ben Grey
If you set up a Community of Practice based on the Transformational Learning model, everyone would be able to share their unique perspective of situations that occur throughout their day. This really reaches students and teachers beyond the classroom. The points of view that unfold would be incredible diverse and could drive professional development that changes the culture of a building. (Missy Del Priore)
Comment Pat Moriarty
I love the idea of communities of practice for teachers because it inspires experienced teachers to lead and supports new teachers with a constant stream of information from a variety of sources. Currently, we have a new teacher initiative but this consists mostly of meetings at the SAU where just the new teachers collaborate with one another. I think it would be beneficial for new teachers to meet with others from a variety of levels and content areas to gain insight into the many different strategies that teachers use. Much of what they review at their meetings are based on theory and research, which is certainly a part but it doesn't necessarily help with speaking with a parent or addressing an immediate need within the class. By taking part in the community, the new teachers would have a many people in the building to turn to.
My question after reading several of the posts was I wonder how much time is allocated for these communities of practice and if it is time is a greater factor than in the other models. It seems time intensive.
Community's of Practice are the consummate environment for Differentiation! The key is time. Should teachers be given time or have expectations to learn beyond their traditional duties?
- Content based on stages of concern (C-BAM): awareness, personal, management, consequence, collaboration, and refocusing
- Select this delivery method to meet their preferences for time and pace (in-service day 2009-10, or off-contract 2009-2010, or 3-credit course Summer 2010)
- Choose to work individually or collaboratively (with only district teachers or teachers-nationwide)
- Choose the number of modules to complete and how to demonstrate their learning from the course (proof of learning can be shown either by connection to district curriculum map, district initiatives, individual portfolio or tailored class lessons)
- Resources we are currently using:
- Teachers Online Learning – for K-5 teachers (Smart Board skill acquisition and activity creation: http://www.teacheronlinetraining.com/library/course/index.php
- Resources we wish to investigate/promote:
The e-learning can support differentiated professional development to meet the unique needs of staff in schools by using a variety of formats for instructional delivery. Broadbent (2002) mentions “e-learning allows those who need access to information to tap it as needed thought informal means. Websites, discussions groups, and list servs can supply knowledge and skills on an as needed basis. This can benefit those who do not need direct instruction and are self-motivated learners” (p. 1)(N.Connolly)- PDE free online Act 48 Professional Education programs of study: for a variety of topics: http://pa.professionaleducation.org/
- EdTech Leaders Online: http://www.edtechleaders.org/
- PA Department of Education Webinar Events: http://www.pdewebinars.org/>>
C. EtchisonProviding online professional development (E-Learning) allows a district to offer many different courses at once to meet the needs of it’s learners. Classes are available when they are needed and are no longer based on room reservations or sub availability. Faculty do not have to all attend the same day nor the same course. This allows for flexibility that enables professional development to meet the specific assessed needs of the individual. The teacher that wants basic Boardmaker applications can now take a class at the same time as the teacher who wants advanced applications. It opens up a whole new world. (Anne Truger)
Imagine the possibilities for teachers (and administrators) when we have the ability to diversity our teaching from beyond our own building, district, or county. Talk about a true learning community! (Missy Del Priore)
We, too, have begun to offer some online professional development for our staff and have met with success. We realize this is not the preferred mode of learning for all staff, so we continue to offer face to face courses as well; particularly for beginner level classes. It's another step in our desire to meet the learning needs of our staff. (Comment by Judith Epcke)
Online professional development is a great tool for integration of schoolwide, group and individual professional development because differentiation in the group and individual levels still allows teachers to select from a menu with the district goals in mind. A schoolwide staff could complete a large group district activity either in person or online, a group of teachers could decide to follow up the large group and select an activity related to their specific interests and then an individual could further specialize and select an online event that is specific to their own classroom needs (it might also match developmental or life cycle needs for them)
Of course in the school that I am in (virtual) the online professional development is highly effective due to the teachers residing all over the state. Each time the teachers come to the office for a professional development, it involves a great deal of time and money. It is very beneficial to have the ability to address distict concerns with the entire staff online through Ellluminate. The professional development this month will be online. I think it is important though, that there is follow up with teachers that encourages them to move forward following the large group to work in communities and individually to differentiate based on their own needs.
E learning professional development also supports, through differentiation, the concept of job embedded development due to the teacher's ability to select and differentiate for their own classroom at any time.
(Kathy Keck)
(comment from Steph Spissu) I am continually impressed by eLearning professional development activities and the opportunities they provide. While I was a school teacher I was provided with very few PD opportunities. However, I have worked for two different supplemental education in recent years and found the eLearning provided to be helpful. Additionally, the various modules were comprised of reading, listening, writing, game-related, quiz, and discussion activities. With each activity I completed I gained a better perspective about the important role eLearning could play in adult development.
There is a wealth of information on the internet. There are many professional development tools. E-Learning can connect a teacher with a specific type of professional development that will fit the specific needs of the teacher. All this without leaving their living room. Teachers can also follow their interests. They can support their professional development venture by surfing and researching specific items or that teachable moment. [RM Pellant]
The teachers in district are finding it increasingly difficult to get released from the school day to attend professional development. As a consequence, a shared space online has been created in order to facilitate PLCs virtually. While this may not be for everyone and it cannot totally replace face-to-face collaboration, it is a wonderful way for peers to engage and learn fromone another. With the use of Webinars and Wikis, the wealth of information that can be shared with one another is endless. This new mode of professional development is being accepted with slight trepidation, however, since many people feel that it is "outside of their duty day/contract." I imagine one could spend endless hours outside of the school developing professionally, but I find that a small amount of time is required if it is all going to get done. The webinar will allow some activities to take place during the school day without having to take time to drive anywhere and if it is archived, it can be accessed at other times, too. ~Andrea Christman
Similar to an analog (binder style) portfolio, an ePortfolio allows each teacher to identify the purpose and select the evidence that matches that purpose. The theme of the portfolio can differ, thereby making it differentiated.
~Michelle Krill, Pat Chodkiewicz
(comment from Steph Spissu) Michelle and Pat. That is a great point that each ePortfolio is a personal experience and therefore can be differentiated for various teacher needs. I think an ePortfolio path for various teachers can be guided by an administrator to go certain ways. These portfolios would be particularly helpful for the teacher who needs improvement in technology integration!
Also, these portfolios can be easily accessed and stored for years to come in order to further the professional development of other teachers who may wish to view them.
(Teresa)
Comment: (from Andrea Christman)--I love the idea of e-portfolios, but a school's administration needs on be on board with the whole idea. Brady also mentioned his frustration with his school and the problem that I see with using e-portfolios is that I don't think my administrator would know how to open it up or use it! She is VERY low tech! You could spend a lot of time scanning evidence into the portfolio only to have it never looked at!
An electronic portfolio allows for learners to showcase what they have done to meet certain standards through a set of guidelines. This gives the opportunity for one to use their own style while meeting standards. Because the response is individual most of the time it is already differentiated within itself. One can use e-portfolios to be geared towards so many different things; it all depends on the school district and what they are trying to accomplish (L. Kernizan)
Comment Pat Moriarty
I think that digital portfolios are an excellent tool for the teacher to organize professional development materials and store artifacts. I really do not see where the digital portfolio would facilitate improved instruction or increase student learning. However, I do believe it is an excellent tool for students to use and develop as they move through their years of schooling. Personally, I think a digital portfolio should replace the grading and report card system because it is performance based and shows what students are able to do by the display of artifacts.. Now,, if by developing their own digital portfolio a teacher learns skills to help students develop their own then this would be an effective professional development activity. But if the teacher is not then I think the development of a digital portfolio would be an exercise that a teacher could pursue outside the classroom or school.
What elements need to be in place so that the professional development is of high quality and effectively improves instruction?
~Teresa Diehl
(Comment: C. Etchison) What would the qualifications be for this "person in charge" and how is "time on task" or final product evaluated?
I think that it is important to develop a community of peers rather than a top-down delivery of "development." This can be done through the use of lead learners or team leaders. These are ideally teachers rather than administrators. Their job is to see themselves as a facilitator rather than a superior.
Our school does not have a vice-principal, and instead uses three [teaching] team leaders to fill this role with a focus on being lead learners. These teams meet regularly as peers. Our last PD day was given over to the teams to do high-level language planning. Instead of bringing in an expensive speaker, the team sat down with the new scope and sequence document and hashed out a UbD based year outline for spelling instruction for grades 3 - 5. What was accomplished was much better than what the curriculum coordinator could have put together and gave the teachers to become much more knowledgeable about the scope and sequence and UbD planning process -- neither of which would have happened if this had been done by the curriculum coordinator or if the PD day had been an workshop leader who was an expert on language instruction. (Brady Cline)
I agree Brady far too often people are given certain positions in a building and they let the role take over which has them performing non productively. I learned from my students that working in groups is so much more productive. You can have a facilitator to guide the group but the outcome for collaboration is so much more meaningful and productive. (L. Kernizan)
I think it’s vital to introduce teachers to the concept of CoPs before throwing them into one. Examples of communities of practice even around unrelated issues would be a good place to start. Another important element would be to have teachers brainstorm about specific topics to cover in the CoP. (Allyson Smith)
Comment: I think that a team approach is a great way to go- if the teachers are in learning communities and each has a team leader, a pd advisory could be formed of the leaders with a facilitator that is an admin. I think it would be good to have a facilitator as the teachers may not have enough time to do some of the work involved. The facilitator would not need to make decisions. This would allow each community to have input in what pd is needed. kkeck
To create a PD based on Transformational Learning, there would have to be a willingness for teachers to share their personal experiences that have shaped their classroom practice. Teachers may also need to be involved in a type of diversity training. In additionbe able to work with or as a peer coach would be vital. (Missy Del Priore)
This audio comment from Team C: Supervisionaries Beth, Judi, Stephanie, and Carissa.)
- Leaders cannot act in the role of top-down agents of change or be seen as the visionaries of the school; instead leaders must be regarded as democratic teachers and allow for the leadership to be shared and the decisions to be collective and reflect the opinions of all the stakeholders. This will take a paradigm shift in many school administrators!
- Communities of practices require that teachers be self-motivated and reflective and be able to guide their own development.
- Teachers must be given the tools, encouragement and guidance to allow the communities of practice to thrive. ~Andrea Christman
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Administration must validate this model by allotting time to allow teachers to engage in the requisite conversations. Allowing teachers to have critical conversations, as well as creating an environment where people are free and comfortable to risk is imperative. Administration must also work collaboratively within the community and set up the opportunity for the community to establish group learning goals. -Ben GreyE-Learning needs to:
C. Etchison
Comment: The two things you mentioned that stand out for me (though all of your points are good!) are the importance of including e-learning in the budget and having teachers teach others - this helps teachers be more self-reflective about their learning as it forces them to think about how others can use the information. Allyson Smith
The elements that need to be in place so that the professional development is of high quality and effectively improves instruction are:
- Fosters a deepening of subject matter knowledge, a greater understanding of learning, and a greater appreciation of student’s need.
- Planning lessons, evaluating student work, developing curriculum improving classroom practices, increasing student learning.
- Questions, analysis, and reflections
- Values and cultivates of culture of collegiality.
- Modeling, coaching and collaboration(N.Connolly)
~The questions, analysis and reflections are key components in eLearning. Also, an active faciliator is very important. Although, it is necessary to be self motivated for eLearning to be successful, with the right faciliator, clear expectations, guidelines and deadlines can help even the less motivated be successful. ~Michelle KrillE learning professional development, like any professional development program, needs to involve the participants in the planning. There should be an integration of schoolwide, group and individual planning and it should include research-based practices. The professional development should be job embedded and teachers should have the ability to differentiate individually and be active participants on all levels. There should be an opportunity for collaboration. E learning professional development should also include follow up, evaluation and support from peers and administration. Especially, in the case of e learning, it needs to be ongoing and part of the school technology culture. I will list the specifics below, however, I would like to mention Standards for Online Professional Development, developed by SREP in collaboration with NSDC)
(Kathy Keck)
Comment: Kathy, your comments say it best. Educators need to be involved from the ground up in order to provide professional development that is effective and offers appopriate practices. E-Learning is an apporpriate method to integrate both techonology use and focus the program to the needs of the educator. It also provides for collaboration among a varied group. mmcfarland
Support and Structure are even more important in many E-learning environments. If you are involved in an a-synchronous environment it needs to be well structured so that it is clear to the learner what the goals are and the path to achieving those goals. If the course is delivered through the internet, the internet can be a black-hole to time. If the course is well structured you can diminish the possibility of wasted time. E-Learning professional development also needs to be supported and planned through the school/district. If left up to the learner, they might choose material that is too easy, or that isn't necessarily supporting the school/district goals. Many professional development opportunities are also more valid than others. A technology coordinator or director who is in the "know" can help direct the learner, administrator, or, professional development coordinator in the right direction. [RMPellant]
- Professional development about use of portfolios to improve instruction
- Short, introductory videos/samples (allows the participant to re-run and refresh skills if needed)
- A framework for building the portfolio
- Guidelines for what to include/not include
- Guidelines for the reflective portion
- A rubric for self assessing quality
~Michelle Krill, Pat Chodkiewicz(Comment: C. Etchison - guidelines would make the difference, I believe, between "just collecting work" and "collecting with the purpose of promoting teacher growth")
~@Cindy, I agree! Michelle Krill
A e-portfolio is so broad and there are so many things you can do with it but if you don’t know what you are doing it can be a big headache. For an electronic portfolio to be high quality and effectively improve instruction there need to be professional development plans to aid in the process of creating an electronic portfolio. Staff members need to have access to tutorial, samples, internet access, a rubric, action plan and have someone who can give them feedback on what they are uploading. (L. Kernizan)
Professional development to support the use of e-portfolios is obvious as it could be an effective tool used to monitor the progress of your teaching and professional career. Using it as a tool to assess instruction would benefit not only the teacher but the student in terms of feasability and effectiveness of a lesson or unit as you reflect back on your experiences. The e-portfolio is useful for a teacher to accompany a resume, or during an observation to showcase projects, and personal efforts. The only down side would be the creation of the portfolio as it is a skill that would need to be introduced and revisited regularly. (mmcfarland)
comment: we also need to keep in mind that teachers will also need professional development to professionally develop! ;-) In other words, they may need PD to learn all there is about the e-portfolio to make it an affective tool for them. [RM Pellant]
- So true!
How does the approach support teacher evaluation?
Audio by Team C - ISTE- Beth Burke, Carissa Sualp, Judith Epcke, and Stephanie Spissu
(see response to prior question)
~Teresa Diehl
Ideally, communities of practice will be designed with both team teaching and peer observations in mind. It is important that this be a regular part of collaboration. Teachers who are constantly in each others' classrooms learn to critically analyze teaching practices. They then become much more reflective about their own practices. Teaching with adult observers can be stressful, but when it occurs frequently with trusted peers who are familiar with your skills and goals, it can provide the subtle pressure to implement best practices which are already known but not consistency implemented. Through these teams of teacher-learners evaluation instruments can be created and used on each other. All of this requires a lot of personal trust and good faith -- these cannot be assumed, and is, in my opinion, a huge obstacle to this idealistic model of teacher evaluation. In a true CoP membership/participation would be voluntary. This mostly solves the problem of trust and good faith, but doesn't compel struggling teachers (or expert loners) to join with others. I think CoP is the way to go, but I'd like to learn more about how it really looks in schools and if teacher evaluation is integrated into it or is a separate process. (Brady Cline)
The evaluation of a Community of Practice would have to be a positive )experience for everyone involved. Taking teachers from where they are and moving them to where they want to be is extremely rewarding for teachers and the peers who helped them. Knowing how to incorporate a non-evaluative walkthrough would play a big part of creating a CoP. (Missy Del Priore)
Comment: Teachers in communities are learning from their peers. As teachers identify areas that they would like to improve from walk thoughs and clinical observations they can begin to focus in the learning community and may enlist the ideas and support of their peers that may even lead to a peer coaching process. Other teachers may have participated in a pd program that could be helpful to others and be able to share that information. kkeck
Communities of practice help move away from a managerial approach to teacher supervision to a team approach for improvement. This method allows teachers to work together to peer-edit, and it allows conversations to be based within the community to help all members grow professionally. No longer is the principal the only one evaluating and pushing teachers to get better. The responsibility is shared with the entire group, and investment in success becomes equally owned by all. -Ben Grey
~Andrea Christman: Teacher members of learning teams can assist one another in examining the standards students are required to master, planning more effective lessons, critiquing student work, and solving the common problems of teaching; thus improving the quality of performance of the teacher.
Staff development that improves the learning of all students by organizing adults into learning communities has goals that are aligned with those of the school and district. This improves the likelihood that the teachers will successfully achieve the school and district goals.
Knowledge, lessons or activities that resulted from the e-Learning experience can be: * Observed in walk throughs
- Discussed during peer coaching, mentoring, or team/grade level meetings
- Shared with administrative teams to determine if the new strategies can be incorporated across a grades/departments
- Used as model lessons, with the teacher in a teacher-leader role for new teachers
- Used to help evaluate content being taught and support curriculum alignment
- Incorporated into the teacher’s action research or professional development plan
- Used to intellectually involve the teacher (acquire knowledge at a deeper level)
- Transferred to the students because digital tools that teachers use in the e-learning environment can be used with students – providing 21st century skills
E-learning approach support teacher evaluation by: motivation, inclusion, differentiation, spatial thinking, organization and collaboration learning.(N.Connolly)C. Etchison
Teacher evaluation, which includes both formative like walkthroughs and the full clinical cycle and summative such as the formal yearly teacher evaluation, is supported by e learning and online professional developement by helping teachers to
address specific areas of need that are part of their individual action plan and goals. Online tools can address those needs and teachers can then apply the ideas to their owon classroom practice. So the online tools facilitate different needs mentioned in both summative and formative evaluation. Trying to accommodate all teachers needs in either large or small groups is one of the pitfalls of professional development that can lead to frustration. Fortunately, there are a wide range of online topics to facilitate the needs of teachers. For example, NACOL is on resource that teachers can use for professional development in the area of online learning and ISTE offers a wide range of activities involving technology. Other organizations like ASCD also offer online classes that address many teacher needs. (Kathy Keck)
The individual E-Learning Professional Development needs to be tied into the teacher observation cycle. Teacher is observed and then a plan is developed for the teacher to fill a gap or work on a problem area via an E-learning tool. Administrator needs to then follow up and ensure that the delopment plan was followed and needs to check that it was effective and has assisted the teacher's performance in the classroom. Was the gap filled? If not, why? What needs to be accomplished to ensure that the gap is filled? Was the e-learning tool an inappropriate choice? Will a different tool assist the teacher better? [RM Pellant]
- Teachers create the portfolio with an individual goal that is in line with district goals and vision.
- Creates an instrument to measure different learning styles.
- Shows growth over time.
- Artifacts show evidence of student learning.
~Michelle Krill, Pat ChodkiewiczAs you mentioned previously, it really allows the teacher to be reflective. By having examples of the work it allows the teacher to visually see the growth that has been made. Sometimes educators are doing more than they know and I think this is an excellent tol to allow them to see how the growth has occured. (Charrai Hunter)
Electronic portfolios can improve one’s professional practice giving one the opportunity to reflect on their practice and give concrete examples of your work. From a professional level, electronic portfolios can demonstrate your knowledge of resources available for general and field specific research by linking portfolio to appropriate to source materials. From personal experience I have found that my administrators love have me present them with an electronic portfolio because it’s easier to give feedback and they can link a lot of the things in my portfolio to things they have observed in my classroom. (L. Kernizan)
I would think that an electronic portfolio would be a great way to evalute teachers. First, they are compiled of teacher's putting their best products, strategies and practices on display. This allows the teacher to have a say.decision on how they are viewed, as opposed to random observations. They also afford the teacher a tangible mirror for which to look at and improve upon. Many times we know what would like to change, but forget where to begin due to all of the stresses of everyday life and business of our schedules. A portfolio can actually give someone a starting point from which to reflect and then determine where to go from there. (Lenora Crawford)
Contribute at least one resource (e.g., Web site or article) that supports the approach. The resource might provide more general information about the approach or present specific research-based findings on a particular aspect of the approach.
Educational Administration Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 2, 187-226 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0013161X07312958
-Teresa Diehl
Articles from Team C- ISTE (Stephanie, Carissa,Beth, Judi) :
- You might not want to read the whole thing, but here is an online, scanned book about CoP.
- Communities of Practice, by MK Smith
- Introduction to Knowing About Communities of Practice, by F Nickols
- " Transition from school to work: an apprenticeship in institutional identity," communities of practice article.doc on this website: http://www.ewenger.com/
An example of a community of practice – on green issues- Etiene Wenger is known for his work in Communities of Practice and there are many articles and published works available on his page for downloading.We picked the one most closely related to education.
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Communities of Practice and their Technologies (slideshow)(Brady Cline)
http://www.greenforall.org/what-we-do/building-a-movement/community-of-practice/community-of-practice
A community of practice on community of practice
http://cpsquare.org/
See especially cpsquare’s wiki on technology for CoPs
http://cpsquare.org/wiki/Technology_for_Communities_project
(Allyson Smith)
~Andrea Christman: I have used the following resources and found them to be valuable in creating Professional Development opportunities for staff:
- National Staff Development Council’s Website http://www.nsdc.org/standards/learningcommunities.cfm#standard
- SEDL free resource: “Professional Learning Communities: What Are They and Why Are They Important?” http://www.sedl.org/change/issues/issues61.html
- Book: Speck, M., & Knipe, C. (2005). Why can’t we get it right? Designing high-quality professional development for standards-based schools (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Corwin.
- Book: Hall, P., & Simeral, A. (2008). Building teachers’ capacity for success: A collaborative approach for coaches and school leaders. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
- From the Harvard Business School. A very complete guide discussing how to cultivate a community of practice. http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/2855.html
Community of Practicehttp://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/2855.html
(Missy Del Priore)
Here is the resource:
Broadbent, B. (2002). ABCs of E-Learning: Reaping the benefits and avoiding the
Pitfalls. Washington D.C.: Pfeiffer. Retrieved November 16, 2009, from
Http://www.trenton.k12.nj.us/columbus/library/e-learning.htm (N.Connolly)
The resource that I mentioned above, Standards for Online Professional Development, developed by the Southern Regional Education Board in collaboration with the National Staff Developement Council is an excellent resource for planning e learning professional development. www.sreb.org/programs the document is in pdf format and can be downloaded.
A second resource that is likely highly used that has been especially helpful in the virtual environment as reported by teachers is Classroom 2.0. It is a great resource because if the teacher joins, there is weekly professional development delivered online related to technology and the teacher receives ongoing, weekly emails about what is available- it is free and allows for collaboration with other teachers on the topic. (Kathy Keck)
The US Department of Education has their Teacher to Teacher website which provides a wealth of information and opportunities for professional development. It is built by teacher for teachers and can be another tool in the e-learning professional development tool box. [RM Pellant]Teacher to Teacher website which provides a wealth of information and opportunities for professional development. It is built by teacher for teachers and can be another tool in the e-learning professional development tool box. [RM Pellant]
and the following website: http://electronicportfolios.com/teachers/profdev.html (Van Robinson)
- Electronic Portfolios: Students, Teachers, and Life Long Learners
- Portfolio Assessment in Teacher Evaluation (1994) based on analog portfolios
- Teaching Portfolios
~Michelle Krill, Pat ChodkiewiczE-Porfolios
ccapozzoli - I thought that I'd have a bit of fun for the last assignment.
I hope this is acceptable. The interactive Book can be found here.
http://www.mixbook.com/photo-books/education/eportfolio-4604932
ePortfolio Resources Listed in the ebook**
http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech111.shtml
http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2009/11/01/ePortfolios.aspx
http://www.utc.edu/Administration/WalkerTeachingResourceCenter/FacultyDevelopment/Portfolios/
http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Sheridan_Center/docs/teach_port.pdf
Community of Practice
Section 1 Team A
The community of practice is not an approach, but a philosophy of leadership to create a collaborative family of workers. Community of Practice approach is not only an avenue for professional development, but addresses the whole work environment and offers support and nurturing along with sharing of ideas. It deals with all facets of the environment including duties, emotionality, relationships, and development. The community becomes a safe environment to share and learn without fear of making mistakes.
Employing a community of practice supports professional development for a variety of disciplines within any district. As an urban, suburban or rural district, we face numerous problems that other districts do not. Often there are budget shortages, difficulty with employing highly qualified teachers, retaining highly qualified teachers, language barriers and access to up to date technology, texts, and materials. A community of practice supports differentiated professional development in that it would allow teachers to reach out beyond the school walls to collaborate with other professionals in their content area. This would allow for the establishment of professional learning communities in areas that are especially overlooked or lack a department or group to collaborate with from within their own building. For example, groups that would really benefit from collaboration with teachers from various communities would be English Language Learner teachers, character education teachers, and specials teachers (art, music, technology). All of this could be done using various medium which would accommodate the schedules and needs of many who wish to use professional development to improve their skills and ultimately their student’s skills.
~ I'd agree that the organization of time is very important. Many meetings are simply times when people synchronize calendars and the conversations are very on the surface. Having time blocked for the discussions and a framework for activities will allow for more meaningful reflections on the task at hand. The objective should be clear at the start and the goal should be to work toward the objective in the allotted time. ~Michelle Krill
http://www.slane.k12.or.us/files/common/SL_Studio_Final.pdf
Professional Learning Communities - an example of educational communities of practice www.allthingsplc.com
Defining communities of practice http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/cop/definitions.shtml
http://www.infed.org/biblio/communities_of_practice.htm
Website/Articles Michelle: http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/mf_pdbrief.pdf